Nest bunks were common, as omegas were not comfortable in a bed in the middle of a room like a human might design. They liked close, dark, cool spaces to sleep.
The door in the wall opened into a room of sorts made up entirely of a bed. Upon entering, the omega walked onto a ledge that circled the room, where one could sit, or place shoes or other items. In the middle of the room, down below the ledge was a mattress. It took up the entirety of the tight, dark space below the wooden step. Cloth draped the ceiling, the walls. The only lights were tiny twinkle lights strung behind the dark material giving a comforting glow. Some cultures called them box beds, using an enclosed space to create the nest. But here, in the Northwest Pack, the box bed was more like its own room.
Luke breathed out, seeing all the omegas curled around each other in one place. It was sweet, the scene one of friendship and community, but he could still smell the faint arousal coming off of he and Seath as they admired the scene as any Alpha would.
“Well now,” Seath said, his eyes locked on Lycan’s slender frame in the middle of the nest, shown to them because he sat up, his perfect, upturned nose in the air, undoubtedly the first to notice the presence of Alphas.
Luke noticed that Seath locked down his scent quickly, not something every Alpha could do. He glanced at his friend, but Seath just gave a barely noticeable shake of his head and shared athat’s privateover the link they had as packmates. As a wolf, he didn’t care that everyone knew he was aroused by Lycan. They knew anyway. But, something felt wrong for other omegas, on the verge of heat no less, to be able to determine his arousal when his mate couldn’t.
“Alpha, you are returned.” Luke could hear the contentment in Lycan’s voice, and so could Seath as he and the omega stared at each other for long, unbroken moments. Coming up and sitting on the shelf circling the nest, Lycan was almost eye-level with Luke and Seath as they stood outside the door.
“I am. What do you need, Lycan?” Seath asked, his voice soft and velvety. The world seemed to narrow a bit, only he and the gorgeous omega before him. Lycan had put on more lean muscle in the time he was gone, and his face filled out, his scent stronger. The magic was loosening its hold on his wolf nature little by little, just as the coven had predicted.
“I-I took this from your laundry. Did you come for it?” Lycan offered up a shirt of Seath’s, his head ducked and cheeks pink.
Seath reached for Lycan’s cheek, stroking it for just a moment. “I did not,” his voice became a deep rumble, “did you want my scent in your nest, Little Wolf?”
Luke smiled, because as unbonded omegas, they would all react to Seath’s scent or Greene’s for comfort, until they found their mate. Still, Lycan reacting to Seath’s scent with blushes and a flirty grin gave him hope for Lycan to realize what he was to Seath.
“Yes, Alpha.”
Seath smiled at Lycan, still transfixed. “I’m glad. You can keep the shirt. But,” Seath reached for Lycan, “perhaps it would be better if I scented you. Then, you can get all the omega snuggles you need.”
“Really?” Lycan asked, bouncing a bit as if too excited to sit still.
It wasn’t strange for Seath to do this, but usually the omega in the middle of the nest would be connected strongly to the Pack Alpha in a way. A brother. A mate. A brother-in-law. A best friend.
Seath didn’t have those, well he did have a best friend, but not an omega one, and so the omega nests were not currently used like they had been and would be in the future. Until his fated mate presented as such and there was a mating, there would be no omega for the center of the nest. Or there should not have been.
But, apparently that didn’t matter as the pack started to act as if Lycan was already taking the Alpha-Mate role. It was funny. He wasn’t yet the Alpha, and Lycan wasn’t even the mate he was betrothed to.
And yet. Here they were. And the threshold gave no shits about any of it, flagrantly accepting Lycan into the Alpha-Mate role most obviously of all. And the omegas were following.
Luke remembered his birth pack having these omega bonding nights on the regular, with the Alpha-Mate at the center. But, if the omegas were already drawn to Lycan, Lycan carrying the scent of Seath directly would be even more powerful.
“Excuse me, Alpha?”
Seath stepped back and there was Uriel, a pretty blond omega who Luke knew had miscarried more than once, but was desperate for pups. He was bonded, mated for life to an Alpha that worried for Uriel more than Uriel did for himself. Uriel climbed up the steps to the nesting bunk and into Lycan’s arms for a brief hug. He had recovered from his most recent miscarriage next to Lycan during Lycan’s own time in the medical ward, and they had become friends.
Uriel didn’t work in the Pack House though, and so he and Lycan must have worked to keep their friendship going since they had both left the hospital wing.
“Heat’s coming soon,” he heard Uriel tell Lycan.
“Snuggle by me then, Uri. We’re going to get you healthy. I’m just at the end of mine.”
Uri was smart to take his heat with the omegas this go-round. His body wasn’t yet ready to try again for a pup and as his mate was also fated, the urge to keep trying was sometimes overwhelming in the middle of a heat.
Just as he had suggested with Lycan, it was sometimes best for an omega to ride out a heat away from an Alpha.
Once Uri had climbed in the nest, Lycan moved toward Seath.
Lycan molded against Seath’s chest as Seath held him close with a strong arm. Skin-to-skin he made sure Lycan carried his scent. He nuzzled the inside of his wrist to trail over Lycan’s creamy skin.
Lycan felt so right in his arms, smelled so good it was all he could do not to throw him over his shoulder and take him back to his chambers.
Lycan shivered against him during the scenting, and Seath could feel the omega’s own arousal.
This was harder than six weeks away had been. His head was swimming with desires and need, wanting to clutch Lycan close and never let him go.
